When Jennifer Clinton, Ph.D., MBA ’08 accepted her position as president of the National Council for Visitors in 2012, she did so with the aim of helping the organization better articulate its core purpose.

Research by Gerard Hoberg and Nagpurnanand Prabhala After once competing almost exclusively with other computer makers, Apple has had to battle a more diverse group of rivals since launching its extensive line of music players, phones and tablets.

Research by Christine Beckman Entrepreneurial boards typically stay actively involved in the growth of a new venture and can be critical to the company’s success. So it is important for startups to know which types of people they should offer board seats to. 

Research by Siva Viswanathan and Goudong “Gordon” Gao A buyer venting through a recent eBay forum about a shipping delay contemplated posting an online review criticizing the seller for “laziness and lack of professionalism.” One thing holding the buyer back was fear of a retaliatory review from the merchant that would “tank my rating” as a future seller. 

Roland Rust, executive director of the Center for Excellence in Service, has just published The Handbook of Service Marketing Research. This volume brings together an all-star team of leading researchers in service marketing to explore many of the hottest topics in service marketing today. Cutting-edge topics include: customer relationships and loyalty, customer-centered metrics, managing customer contacts, product and pricing, digital service marketing, rethinking the marketing function, and service for society.

Don’t blame bailouts for excessive risk taking, one researcher said May 29, 2014, during a daylong accounting conference at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Research presented at the third annual Journal of Accounting and Public Policy Conference in College Park, Md., shows how the expectation of a safety net — which comes with strings attached — actually reins in shareholders and managers with limited liability.

Research by Michael Kimbrough Each quarter brings a flurry of news releases coming from publicly traded companies announcing their earnings, often with an explanation for the good or bad numbers. The companies have a lot riding on the highly scrutinized earnings reports: Stock price changes can be significant as the market reassesses the future prospects of a firm. 

Something significant will happen for the Smith School of Business at the Academy of Management’s annual meeting Aug. 1-5, 2014, in Philadelphia. Debra Shapiro, the school’s Clarice Smith Professor of Management, will start a one-year term as president-elect of the professional association. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Financial regulators and researchers explored new ideas on May 16, 2014, during a daylong conference co-hosted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Center for Financial Policy at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. 

Supply chain analytics was the theme of the Fourth Annual Business Analytics Workshop, held in College Park, Md., on Friday, May 2, 2014. Co-sponsored by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and IBM, the day-long workshop consisted of topics ranging from cyber supply chain risk management to disaster response planning and logistics.